Amano confirms IAEA accesses to all needed Iran sites, locations
The IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano made the remarks in Vienna on Monday while speaking at the first meeting of the agency's Board of Governors since US President Donald Trump's move to withdraw from the landmark nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"As stated in my latest report to the Board [of Governors], the agency has conducted complementary accesses under the Additional Protocol to all the sites and locations in Iran which we needed to visit," Amano said in his introductory statement to the Board of Governors."As of today, I can state that Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments…If the JCPOA were to fail, it would be a great loss for nuclear verification and for multilateralism," he added.
"Timely and proactive cooperation by Iran in providing such access would facilitate implementation of the Additional Protocol and enhance confidence," he added.
In a speech to a quarterly meeting of the agency's Board of Governors in Vienna in March, Amano once again confirmed Iran's compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement, warning that any collapse of the deal would be a "great loss."
Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the US, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the nuclear agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.
Under the JCPOA, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.
Amano further pointed to the last month's withdrawal of the United States - one of the JCPOA parties - from the nuclear accord and emphasized that the IAEA continues to verify and monitor Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the deal.
The IAEA's verification and monitoring measures have been taken as requested by the United Nations Security Council and authorized by the Board of Governors, he said.
US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement.
Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.
The chief of the UN nuclear agency added that he attended a meeting between deputy foreign minister of Iran and his counterparts from signatories of the nuclear deal in Vienna on May 25 and briefed the participants on the IAEA’s verification and monitoring activities in Iran.
"The agency continues to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement. Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran continue," Amano pointed out.
In separate letters to his counterparts in various countries, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said all members of the international community must stand up to US law-breaking behavior, bullying and disregard for the rule of law after Washington announced it was withdrawing from the JCPOA.
Zarif warned of the dangerous consequences of the US "illegal and unilateral" move to pull out from the nuclear agreement and said, "Illegal withdrawal of the US government from the JCPOA, especially bullying methods used by this government to bring other governments in line, has discredited the rule of law and international law at international level while challenging the goals and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and efficiency of international bodies."
END